Djibouti bulletin

Further information on UA 310/97 (AFR 23/01/97, 30 September 1997 and
update AFR 23/02/97, 21 October 1997) - Fear of torture or
ill-treatment

Mohamed Kadamy Youssouf,

representative of the opposition Front pour la Restauration de
L’unite et de la Democratie, FRUD, Front for the Restoration of
Unity and Democracy

Aicha Dabale Ahmed (f),

relief agency worker and wife of above

Ali Mohamed Maki Houmed,

FRUD military commander

Mohamed Daoud Chehem,

former political prisoner

Kamil Mohamed Ahmed (Kabir),

FRUD political official

The five people named above are still detained and under judicial
investigation (instruction).

Aicha Dabale Ahmed was admitted to hospital in early November.
A magistrate had ruled that she should be provisionally released
but the prosecutor’s appeal against this was upheld by the Court
of Appeal. She remains in custody in Peltier hospital, and after
initial problems from the police is now receiving adequate
medical care. Her pregnancy is continuing. Before her deportation
from Ethiopia she had been working with Mission Enfance in Addis
Ababa on an education project in Ethiopia’s Afar Region.

Some nine other Afar opponents of the Djibouti government are reported
to have been detained in Ethiopia in November 1997, some of them
tortured, and then handed over to Djibouti and detained—in
addition to the five named above. They are also under judicial
investigation.

Thank you for your work on this Urgent Action appeal. It was
successful in securing medical treatment in hospital for Aicha
Dabale Ahmed. Although neither the Ethiopia nor the Djibouti
government has replied to Amnesty International’s concerns, we
believe that this action has been effective in protecting the
human and legal rights of the detainees at this stage.

As the immediate critical situation is over, no further action
on these cases is requested from Urgent Action participants.
There will be follow-up and monitoring of these cases by Amnesty
International in other ways.